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Jarrett shows his passion for ‘St. Matthew’

The late Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter invited a select circle of friends to his home every year to listen to a full-length, three-hour recording of the St. Matthew Passion.

If they fidgeted, he kicked them out. If they spoke, they were never invited back to Richter's house at all. (No word on whether bathroom breaks were permitted.) For that span, his living room became a church.

We can't listen to this piece the same way today, not with cell phones going off in Belk Theater and a couple of dozen people arriving late. (One guy in front of me started to video the show with his camera phone.)